Jeff Sheehy, of UCSF AIDS Research Institute, Appointed as San Francisco Supervisor
Jeff Sheehy, the longtime director of communications at UC San Francisco’s AIDS Research Institute, has been appointed by San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee to serve on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Lee announced the appointment Friday morning. Sheehy will fill the vacancy left by Supervisor Scott Wiener, who was elected to the California Senate in November 2016.
“It’s an honor to have this opportunity to serve the people of my community and the diverse neighborhoods of District 8,” Sheehy said in a press release from Mayor Lee’s office.
Since 2000, Sheehy has worked as the communications director at the UCSF AIDS Research Institute, which works to enhance the effectiveness of UCSF’s HIV research, care and education.
“We are thrilled with Jeff’s appointment,” said Diane Havlir, MD, chief of the HIV/AIDS Division at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. “He is a crusader and activist not only for HIV prevention, care and research – but for all of health and for vulnerable populations. This appointment could not have come at a better time.”
He also has served on the governing board of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine since its inception, and he is a co-founder and member of the Steering Committee of San Francisco’s Getting to Zero Consortium and the Industry Collaboration Group of the International AIDS Society’s Towards an HIV Cure project.
“Jeff is one of the most knowledgeable and networked activists I have ever known,” said Paul Volberding, MD, director of the AIDS Research Institute and director of research for UCSF Global Health Sciences. “As an HIV-infected gay man, he has long played a leading role in our response to the epidemic. But he is also an important figure at UCSF on stem cell research as a board member of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine.”
Sheehy, who will be San Francisco’s first supervisor living with HIV, has had significant involvement in San Francisco’s politics, including his service as the HIV/AIDS adviser to Mayor Gavin Newsom.
His awards for public service include the Human Rights Campaign’s Leadership Award, the Caped Crusader Award from Equality California, the Tomas Fabregas AIDS Hero Award and the UCSF Chancellor’s Award for Public Service.
“Jeff Sheehy has spent his entire life fighting for his community and for what he believes is right, and I know that as Supervisor, Jeff will be a proven fighter for the residents of his district, and for our entire City too,” Lee said.
Sheehy will be formally sworn-in as supervisor on Sunday, Jan. 8, in an afternoon ceremony at City Hall.
Read the full announcement about Sheehy’s appointment at the SF Mayor’s Office website »